[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 214 (Tuesday, November 4, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 65582-65583]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-26284]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Foreign-Trade Zones Board

[Docket 61-2008]


Foreign-Trade Zone 119 - Minneapolis, MN, Application for 
Expansion/Reorganization and Expansion of Manufacturing Authority, 
Subzone 119B - Uponor, Inc., (Polyethylene Tubing)

    An application has been submitted to the Foreign-Trade Zones Board 
(the Board) by the Greater Metropolitan Area Foreign Trade Zone 
Commission (Minneapolis, Minnesota), grantee of FTZ 119, on behalf of 
Uponor, Inc. (formerly, the Wirsbo Company), operator of Subzone 119B 
at the Uponor polyethylene tubing manufacturing and distribution 
facilities in Apple Valley and Burnsville, Minnesota, requesting 
authority to expand and reorganize the subzone and to expand the scope 
of FTZ manufacturing authority to include new manufacturing capacity. 
The application was submitted pursuant to the provisions of the 
Foreign-Trade Zones Act, as amended (19 U.S.C. 81a-81u), and section 
400.28(a)(2) of the Board's regulations (15 CFR Part 400). It was 
formally filed on October 28, 2008.
    Subzone 119B was approved by the Board in 1993 with authority 
granted for the manufacture of polyethylene tubing at Uponor's 
manufacturing plant (Site 1)(135,000 sq.ft./6 acres) in Apple Valley, 
Minnesota (Board Order 640, 58 FR 30143, 5-26-93). Activity at the 
facility (427 employees) includes product development, manufacturing, 
testing, warehousing, and distribution of cross-linked polyethylene 
(PEX) tubing for residential and commercial indoor/outdoor hydronic 
radiant heating systems. In 2005, the Board authorized an expansion of 
the subzone to include an additional site in Burnsville, Minnesota 
(Site 2)(Board Order 1398, 70 FR 36116, 6-22-2005).
    The applicant is now requesting authority to reorganize and expand 
the subzone to include a new warehouse facility (285,000 sq.ft./18.2 
acres), currently under construction, located at 21900 Dodd Boulevard 
in Lakeville (Dakota County), Minnesota, that will replace existing 
Site 2 in Burnsville. Under the current expansion plan, the boundaries 
of Site 1 (manufacturing plant) will be expanded to include 13 
additional acres and 196,000 square feet of production area that would 
double the facility's capacity. The applicant

[[Page 65583]]

also requests that the scope of FTZ manufacturing authority be expanded 
to include the additional production capacity (new total would be 610 
million feet per year). Uponor uses foreign-origin polyethylene (HDPE) 
resin (HTSUS 3901.10, 6.5[percnt]) to manufacture the PEX tubing, which 
represents about 21 percent of the finished tubing's value. The company 
distributes certain foreign parts and materials used to construct the 
radiant heating systems, including thermostats, fittings, aluminum 
pipe, polyethylene pipe, polymers and resins, plastic foil, insulation, 
packaging materials, polyester tape, fasteners, mounting tracks, 
valves, transformers, fuses, relays, junction boxes, flow meters, and 
regulators.
    Expanded FTZ procedures could continue to exempt Uponor from 
customs duty payments on the foreign-origin resin used in production 
for export (about 1[percnt] of shipments). On its domestic shipments, 
the company would be able to elect the duty rate that applies to 
finished PEX tubing (3.1[percnt]) for the foreign resin used in the 
manufacturing process. Customs duties also could possibly be deferred 
or reduced on foreign status production equipment.
    In accordance with the Board's regulations, Pierre Duy of the FTZ 
Staff is designated examiner to investigate the application and report 
to the Board.
    Public comment is invited from interested parties. Submissions 
(original and 3 copies) shall be addressed to the Board's Executive 
Secretary at the following address: Office of the Executive Secretary, 
Room 2111, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue, NW, 
Washington, DC 20230-0002. The closing period for receipt of comments 
is January 5, 2009. Rebuttal comments in response to material submitted 
during the foregoing period may be submitted during the subsequent 15-
day period to January 20, 2009.
    A copy of the application will be available for public inspection 
at each of the following locations: U.S. Department of Commerce Export 
Assistance Center, Suite 210-C, 100 North 6th Street, Minneapolis, MN 
55403; and, at the Office of the Foreign-Trade Zones Board's Executive 
Secretary at the address listed above. For further information, contact 
Pierre Duy, examiner, at: [email protected], or (202) 482-1378.

    Dated: October 28, 2008.
Andrew McGilvray,
Executive Secretary.
[FR Doc. E8-26284 Filed 11-3-08; 8:45 am]
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